Codecademy

Codecademy is an is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes focused in the area of data science and software programming (mostly Web-related) courses for various ages groups, with an in-browser coding console for some offerings. You can choose to learn specific languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, or dive right into a building a website using real-world examples like Airbnb and Flipboard as a guide. Codecademy is focused on teaching beginners the site does offer some advanced courses covering Ruby, PHP, and AngularJS. There is also a a help center and community discussion forum that provides site support. The classes are all free.

What Courses are like on Codeacademy

To get started on this site users will need to create a dedicated Codecademy username and password, or sign in with Facebook or Google+. After sign up, Codecademy will then ask you what you'd like to do and offers three choices: job skills, specific languages, or something else. If you choose one of the first two options, Codecademy offers recommendations on how to get started; if you choose the last option, you're sent to their full course listing. If you select the Job Skills option, the Build a Professional Website course is offered. this course teaches users to build the Airbnb home page. After users hit Start, an interactive slideshow with a lesson overview starts playing, it also shows you how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript affect what happens on the page. For example, you can see how the page looks like HTML-only (no design elements; very dated look) and with CSS added (images, font changes, more modern look). Then it gets into common HTML tags and showing users how they look on the page. Then it lets users try out adding these elements to the page. There is a question mark icon that provides one click hints and a refresher on what the elements are, the slideshow intro, a new page opens to start building from here, users can build skills and start to complete challenges in order to move forward with the lesson. user progress is always saved which enables stop at any time without worrying about losing work.

Users who select specific language classes will get more detail on how each language works and do more basic tasks before moving on to bigger projects. The environment is the same and users will also complete challenges along the way. These classes are very similar to Treehouse's course offerings, but for users looking for more detail Code Avengers might be a better option. There is also the option for users to include 30-minute goal based classes like creating a one-page website. This site also lets users learn how to use APIs from diffrent companies such as: YouTube, SoundCloud, Evernote and more. Each subject is broken down for users into simple lessons that will not allow users to advance unless their coding is accurate. You can also see all the skills that you've mastered on each users dashboard, as well as progress on the current classes. Each lesson also includes a dedicated Q&A forum, hints and additional hints if incorrect code is submitted. There's also a page of resources with forum rules, language glossaries, and access to the help center, where you can get general questions answered.